Wednesday, February 22, 2012

At some point in every day, there’s a wash load to tackle and dirty clothes to sort. There will be a pair of jaw-droppingly filthy trousers or shorts belonging to the collector kid, the boy kid, the Magpie. There’ll be no getting around the need to fully investigate this kid’s every pocket. I know there is no getting around blindly poking my fingers into the deepest pocket crevices, because once or twice I squeezed my eyes shut and la-la-la-la-ed with my hands over my ears and slammed the washing machine door shut and pressed ON.

With my kid, it is rocks. I have not yet identified a pattern in her preferences, perhaps I should pursue your methods and see what discoveries I can make. When I do occasionally forget to check all pockets, a loud racket from the dryer usually reminds me.

I LOVE this. So funny. And even though I like to think of myself as quite the David Attenborough when it comes to all forms of non-human life, I think I would have screamed and done a crazy flicky dance if I reached in and pulled out that spider. You are very brave.

If its any consolation, my kinder boy's favourite activity is crawling on the floor in the shops to see what 'treasures' he can find. He's been known to fill his pockets so full with the half pieces of chain left on the floor where they cut it at Mitre10 that his pants fall down!

Lumme, if I thought there'd be bug carcasses in my kids' pockets I'd be insisting they come in and do the pocket emptying. ESPECIALLY if there were likely to be arachnids! I get plenty of proof that lunchbox sharing goes on, but I wouldn't call my kids magpies. They just think their pockets are an acceptable rubbish bin substitute.

That IS. Charming cause its kid related. I have a flamin' papa magpie here, and, oh the conversations about whose responsibility it might be to empty pockets before trousers head to the wash. Not that charming, but quite the source for wonder...where do they find all those treasures!

I have one just like that. She likes to collect rocks and pretty stones. Suffice to say that the definition of pretty varies amongst our family. She like to keep all the rocks in plastic boxes in her room. Made the big move to our new house very interesting.....

Afternoon. On more than one occasion I have taken the washing out of the machine to find a very clean snail in the bottom of the drum. How silly of me to forget to check for gastropods in SmallBean's pockets...Ax PS The blackbirds don't like the taste of washing powder.

i love boys. i would wear gloves for sure when doing his laundry though. now that i think of it, i wouldn't be surprised to find any of those things in my girls' pockets too. does he realize what an artist he is with his collections? or is it a collaboration between him and his mom, who has the eye for arrangement?

also~ i find much evidence of lunch box sharing in these parts. too much i say. and once, i found in olive's preschool backpack, a small sampler bottle of scotch she had pilfered from our cellar, thinking it was a pretty bottle to take to school and play with. yikes. but so funny it was. olive and mr middle would get along on tuesdays.

Your kid and my kid could get together and make beautiful collections of sticks and broken things... but I'll leave your kid in charge of the bugs and spiders dept.

I pulled a full sheet of cheetah-print wrapping paper out of my girl's school uniform pocket this morning. I can see why it caught her eye but I've no idea how she moved around all day with it bulging inside her dress.

Brilliant.You should check out this blog.Someone is so obsessed with what is in their kids pockets they have turned it in to a blog.http://ayearincharliespocket.blogspot.com/Beer bottle tops feature heavy in our house too!

A collector, an archaeological digger, a picker in the making. This would have to be one of THE most fabulous blog posts ever. Love your imagination and appreciation of your boy and his found treasures.

No sympathy from me, Mrs... I consider you extremely lucky... you find curios, all I get from the pockets of my girls is tissues! Cannot leave them or all the washing ends up looking like it snowed inside the drum ;(

Hey Tarn,I love your kid's wonderful collections (well except for the spider..although fascinating!). I love that he is found beauty and interest in both nature and everyday little objects. What a beautiful soul. Love Jen x

ha! ....must be a boy thing.thank you for checking out my blog. luckily i started it a few years after finding some tiny ( sadly deceased ) little frogs in his pocket.your photographs, and blog overall, are really lovely.

All I remember from my brother's pockets is the night he was unpacking them at the dinner table (why, I don't know) and a condom was chucked smack bang in the middle, between the bread basket and the salt & pepper. His rather red-faced girlfriend was sitting beside him and I, pregnant with Che at the time, laughed so loud, and for a long while.

Brilliant! I still daren't fish about in my sons pockets when trousers are headed for the wash and he is pretty much grown up! Once a magpie always a magpie. I found a flattened, dried-out dead frog not so long ago!

I am rather neglectful and forgetful regarding emptying my son's pockets before putting his clothing into the wash. I am only alerted to the fact that there was a (large) rock in his pocket by the clanging in the dryer. And then there was the unfortunate episode concerning a magenta crayon. http://webloomhere.blogspot.com/2010/11/magenta-crayon.html

About Me

Mother of three, wife to one, designer and craftster of the slightly obsessive kind. Myrtle and Eunice were two lovely old ladies who connected weekly over the Scrabble tiles. These Saturday battles of will and skill were a ritual as comfy as a hot Milo and handknitted blanket on a frosty day.